Sweet and Sour
by Lynze Anne
Summary: One day Drea Schacht notices her gorgeous classmate, Jackson Rathbone for the first time. They have clashing personalities, yet they are startlingly similar. Do opposites really attract?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Jackson Rathbone. If I did, I'd be a very happy girl.

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I wince as I sit back into my seat. Damn sunburn. The day after vacation is the hardest. Everyone is all twitchy, either trying to find their friends or their partner to tell them about all the fun they've had getting drunk, stoned, or a combination of both. And just wanting the day to end. I on the other hand hate this particular day for an entirely different reason. Everyone is in such a good mood, it pisses me off. I don't like people.

"Good morning class!" the teacher chirps cheerfully. Probably all jacked up on caffeine and who knows what else.

"Today we will be sharing what we did on spring break! Now because you are all seniors, please only share what is school appropriate." She finishes the sentence off with a wink. Scary. I glance around me, everyone is excitedly whispering about what they are going to share. C'mon people. Like we haven't been doing this since kindergarten.

"Any volunteers?" About five hands shoot up.

" Okay, how about-" She scans the room with her beady, heavily made up eyes. "Krista! Come on up here and share what you did!"

A perky, blonde stands up and bounces to the front of the room. God, I cant stand her. Since my first day here shes been out to get me. Probably just hates everyone that's smarter than her, which isn't a lot of people here.

"Well during the break I got a tan-"

Hm..so that's why you're orange. " I also bought this cuuute t shirt-"

And in that shirt you most likely participated in a wet t shirt contest. "Ooo! I also got a matching mani pedi-"

Oh my god. I think my brain just melted.

" No one cares.." I mutter. I hear a few snickers.

" What was that Alexandra?"

Damn it. I let out a sigh. "Nothing Ms. Peters." She raises a penciled eyebrow.

" Alexandra, why don't you come up here and share what you did on your spring break since you're so eager to talk."

I will strangle you're piggy self in your sleep.

" But Miss Peters! I'm not done yet!" Krista whines.

Too bad barbie. I walk up to the front of the room, and stare at the class. I let out a breath. I hate public speaking. Honestly it freaks me out. Just be honest, be yourself. Ha, fat chance.

"Well..I spent my spring break stripping down on a hourly basis, rubbing aloe gel all over my naked, badly sunburnt body." The class starts laughing.

Well, good job Schacht, instead of being just an ordinary loser, you're now a funny loser. Ms. Peters beady little eyes bug out.

"Sit down Alexandra!"

I snort and make my way back to my seat. Before I do I turn back to the overgrown pig and say

" Oh Ms. Peters? Please, call me Drea. I insist." More laughter.

I get a high five from the guy sitting next to me. Hm.. I should be funny more often. Another person goes up and blabs about their break. This class is so freaking boring. Please, hand me a shard of glass so I can gauge my eyes out. I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn around to the guy sitting behind me.

"Did you really do that during the break?" he looks at me curiously. Holy crow hes cute!

" Unfortunately yes. I'm not the most exciting person." He cracks a crooked smile. Screw being cute, the guys adorable.

"Well to me, rubbing aloe all over yourself sounds pretty exciting." I feel my face turn tomato red, and I turn around. I sense him lean forward.

"Hey, I'm sorry that I embarrassed you. I didn't mean to." Hm..polite too.

" Its more exciting than my break anyway. I had to put up with my roommate's continuous complaining." As I listen to his voice more I notice that he has a southern drawl. Mm, sexy.

The bell rings, I get my crap together and turn around to the sexy beast behind me. His pericing greenish eyes meet my brown. I glance down at his mouth, the bottom lip is slightly fuller than the top. His tousled brown hair looks very soft..i bite my lip. He sees this and slightly smiles. Snap out of it Drea. Wipe your chin and make conversation.

" Uhh..so..um.." Smooth. He opens his mouth as if he wants to say something, but quickly closes it. He tries again .

"The bell just rang and I don't want Coach Thomas to yell at me for being late. I'll see you around okay?"

I nod, not trusting my voice. He starts to walk off. Oh crap! I didn't catch his name! I watch him walk out of the classroom. I shall call him Sweetcheeks.

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Well I hope you liked it, reviews are helpful :)

P.S. I really need a Beta..


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Jackson Rathbone. If I did, I'd be a very happy girl. I also do not own Interlochen Arts Academy, but I do own all of my quirky characters.

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The rest of the day passed without much incident. Lunch was was chaotic as usual, and the rest of my classes where as boring as the pig's class. I spotted Sweetcheeks a couple times in between classes, he smiled at me each time our eyes met. After final bell rang my friend, Will catches me looking around for someone.

"Okay girl, tell me who he is right now. And is he cute?" I roll my eyes and say, "Very. And hes off limits to you." Will pouts.

"Fine. Now who IS he?"

I bite my lip and give the hallway one last once over.

"Not here, lets go." I grab his arm and drag him off toward our dorm. Will's family had to pull some major strings with the school system to allow us to be roommates It was a little easier for us to get the OK since he's gay. As if you couldn't tell already.

"So...what's his name?" He teases. "Good question."

Will stopped abruptly, causing me to trip. "

You didn't ask for his name and number? My god Drea! I have taught you EVERYTHING you need to know about this kind of thing! You always ask his name first, and number when the convo dies." I roll my eyes.

"Girl, stop that. One day they are going to roll right outta your head." I laugh at his lame joke and we continue on our way.

"Give me ALL the details!" Will says as he flops onto my bed.

"Hey now! How many times have I told you not to do that? And it was just a normal conversation. Nothing special." he looks pointedly at me.

"At all." I added for emphasis.

"He raises his perfectly manicured eyebrows and says nothing. All of a sudden we hear music blasting from the dorm room next to us. Will jumps and falls off my bed.

"Holy hell. What time is it?" He looks at his watch, designer of course, and tells me.

"One thirty AM." he says grumpily.

I jump off my bed and storm out into the hallway. I stalk up to the door where the loud music is coming from, and start banging and yelling loudly.

"Hey man! C'mon! People are trying to sleep!" suddenly as it started the music stopped. The door opens, and standing there is Sweetcheeks himself.

" Hey, I'm sorry. Didn't realize it would be that loud." he scratches his head.

"My roommate thought it would be funny to turn the volume up all the way so that the next time I turn the stereo on, it would blast out everything." he chuckles. And I cant help but to laugh also. Dang cuteness.

"He also conveniently hid the remote, so I finally had to unplug the damn thing." I laugh again.

"Plus its a little late to be rocking out to Mick Jagger." I add. He looks pleasantly surprised.

"You listen to The Stones?" I smile.

"Doesn't everyone?" I ask. Am I flirting? I don't know how I can even think, or breathe with those eyes looking at me.

"No" he says matter of factly. Thank you dad for letting me paw though your records..

" I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier-" he sticks out his hand,

"My name is Jackson." and gives a shy smile.

I shake his hand, "Nice to meet you Jackson, I'm Drea." he smiles wider.

"Nice to meet you too."

I don't know how long we stood outside in the hallway just, talking. I have never had a conversation with a guy before that didn't involve any dirty jokes or comments on their part. It was freaking awesome.

"Spill girl, spill!" Will excitedly shrieked.

" I got his number." I smile mischievously and hold out my arm. On it is Jackson's number written in his slightly messy handwriting.

He squeals.

"Good job girl!" I hear a quiet knock on the door.

"Go away!" I yell and flop onto my bed. Will lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Ignore the she-devil. I'm coming!" I hear a door open.

Aw crap. Jackson is at the door, I can practically hear Wills thoughts about him. I half roll, half fall off my bed and run to where they are standing.

"Please ignore the pansy." I say. I shoo away Will and turn towards Jackson.

He smiles and holds up a vinyl." Thought you might like this." I smile and take it.

"Aw man, I've been searching for this album forever! No music store has it!" I look at the copy of Goats Head Soup by The Rolling Stones.

"Thought you might, you can keep it. My roommate also has a copy and hasn't even taken it out of the plastic."

Randomly I see though the open door a gaggle of guys run past in the hallway , howling, wolf whistling, and making a bunch of other noises that I'd rather not mention. One of them spots Jackson and calls him over.

"Be right back." he says with a smile. Hehehehe.. damn that crooked smile. It reduces me to a puddle of goo. I quickly take the vinyl and put it with my others, ill organize it later.. or not. I jog/speed walk back to the door, tying to make it seem that I never left. I look around my dorm room. Wow, this place is a freaking dump. Well at least my side is. Since Will is freaking OCD to the max, his side is spotless. I could take a pencil from his desk and he'd notice. Jackson re-enters the room.

" What are they all excited about?" I ask, no doubt with a look of pure confusion.

"Apparently there's a new female student. And from their yipping and and yowling I can make a pretty good guess that shes pretty." he shakes his head sadly.

"Well, I'm going to try to keep them under control before the new girl gets scared off."

I chuckle and he leaves. Mmft...sexy back muscles. I walk further into my pigsty. I wonder if he has abs.. I moisten my lips at the thought. I am retched out of my fantasy as I hear a high pitched voice coming from the doorway.

" Hello? Anybody here? Helloooo!" What the hell? I peek around the corner. Good god. It looks like Elle Woods wandered out of her movie and into my cave.

" Oh hi!" it squeaks.

Damn..it spotted me.

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Thank you to everyone who subscribed! (all two of you :P) Reviews are always helpful ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Jackson Rathbone. If I did, I'd be a very happy girl. I also do not own Interlochen Arts Academy, but I do own all of my quirky characters.

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" Oh hi!" damn..it spotted me.

She bounces up to me and gives me a backbreaking hug. I is confuzzled. What sounds like one long word she introduces herself,

"Hi!MynameisSavannah!'dlike!OhandalsoI'msoverysorryaboutthelatetime,myflightgotdelayedand-" I tune out the rest of her blathering.

What is this overexcited ball of pink fluff doing in my dorm? By the blank look on my face she explains herself further.

" I'm your new roomie! Didn't anyone tell you?" Um. No. No one tells me anything 'till the last freaking minute.

I scratch my head in frustration. I already have to live with one drama queen, I don't need another. Will walks in and sees Elle standing there. I didn't exactly catch her name since she was talking at warp speed.

"Oh my gosh! Who is this cute little cupcake?" He exclaims.

Kill. Me. Now.

"I'm Savannah! I'm new here and the principal assigned me this room!" she chirps

I take this moment to take a look at her. She has blonde shoulder length curly hair. She wearing a pink AERO shirt, and a light jean skirt with sandals that look like they are strangling her ankles.

"Really? That's amazing!"

They both beam at each other. Blondie then looks at me and says, "You're Alexandra right?" Oh boy, here we go. "It's Drea. And this is obviously Will." I stalk back to my bed and flop face down.

Ouch..bad idea..go away sunburn!

"Please, make yourself at home where ever you find space." I shout through the pillow in monotone.

"Ignore her. We all do." Will added.

"Thanks so much!" She takes in her surroundings.

"Oh man! This side of the room is so messy!" A look of disgust came over Will's face.

"Ugh. I know. That's HER side." And points at me

" Touch anything and you die!" I shout though the pillow.

"Oh, okay..is she always like this?" she asks Will.

He nods and links arms with her. "At least we have each other. Want to get a frozen yogurt?" Savannah brightens and nods her head. She gets dragged off willingly.

Sometime during the wee hours of the morning I feel asleep. Stupid insomnia, I hate thee. Maybe I should of listened to my mom to get it taken care of when it first started. But that was about four years ago. See? High school must be root of all my problems. Oh well, I've learned to live with it. Anyway, this morning I woke up to Christina Aguilera being blared from the stereo. What the hell? I have told Will a thousand times not to play his music this early in the morning. I crack open my eyes and see Will and Savannah dancing around in their designer pajamas. OMFG! Really?

"WILLIAM JAMES MERCHANT! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS CRAP YOU CALL MUSIC?"

They both jump about three feet in the air, Will falls down onto his butt and Savannah crashes into the chest of drawers. Haha! Man I needed that this morning. Will gets up and faces me, while putting his hands on his hips he says,

"Listen here little Missy, I have to put up with your god-awful music! So i'm going to listen to mine and you can either enjoy it or you can sit there and grumble about it."

Oh boy, he's having a bitch fit.

"And also, you're always moping around here acting like you hate the world!" Moping? I don't mope, I sulk.

"Oh! And don't even get me started on your wardrobe!"

Pretty sure we've touched that subject once or twice..

"You honestly dress like a guy sweetheart." Savannah added.

"I do not!" I retorted.

Will randomly picks up a t-shirt from the floor and holds it out like it's a dying animal.

"This-" he starts "Is not cute."

He holds up one of my favorite Nirvana shirts.

" Hey! That shirt is freaking amazing! Long live Cobain!"

They both roll their eyes and snort. Wow, they are like clones.

" Hey listen, as much as i'd love for you guys to nit pick at my clothes-" I grab my shirt from his grasp and gather up as many dirty clothes as I can and stuff them into a trash bag,

"I have laundry to do."

Will got down on his knees and shouted " Hallelujah!"

I chuckle and as I walk out of the room, I pass a medium sized mirror that is hung on the wall. Will hung it there some time ago, figures huh? I stop and look into the mirror and see a girl looking back at me. Her straight, blonde layered hair barely touches her shoulders. Her brown eyes look back at me pointedly. she has a freckle below her right eye. Her lips are permanently poised into a smirk. I turn away from my reflection, and walk out the door.

As I'm walking down the hallway I hear yelling from another dorm. I bang on the wall.

"Eugene! Dungeons and Dragons is not that exciting! Pipe down!" the door opens and a wizard walks up to me.

"Ye fair maiden, one day you will join us on our quest!" I roll my eyes and push him away.

"Be gone little issue. Ye be annoying." and I continue on MY quest to the laundry room.

Why does it have to be so far away? Down four hallways, across the courtyard and then enter the tiny building on your left. I enter the laundry room and spot an open machine, and run over to it. Ha! I conquer! I open the contraption and begin to load my clothes in, and put in detergent. I fish out some quarters from my pants and try to out them in, and fail. One misses the coin slot and rolls into the machine.

"Damn it." I mumble. I hear a chuckle and I turn around to find Evan gazing at me. Ew! Creeper!

"Go away Evan. No one likes you." So mature right?

He laughs and continues to stare at me. Bleh, makes my skin crawl.

I grab on to the top of the washer and lower myself head first into it. I cannot find the quarter! I am now halfway in the washer trying to retrieve my fallen comrade. I am not happy. It must have gotten stuck somewhere in here..

"Need help with that Miss?" I hear a deep voice with a southern drawl say.

I giggle silently. I automatically know who it is. I could listen to him talk all day and never get bored.

"Miss?" I feel a hand lightly tug on my ankle.

I try to scramble quickly out of the dryer without much luck.

Somehow I manage to hit my head and tumble out of the machine in one swift movement. I look up at him while rubbing my head.

"Oh Drea, I-I didn't mean to startle you.." he says while biting back laughter.

Jackson then looks at me again and bursts into laughter. I must look pretty funny just sitting on the floor stunned. I watch his face, it's all red from laughing and a vein is bulging out a little on his forehead.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now please can you help me retrieve my quarter?" he calms down just enough to fish out a quarter from his pocket.

He says, "This one's on me." and winks.

I feel a goobery smile break out on my face. He helps me up and puts the quarter in the washer. I close the top and face him.

"Thank you for paying for my clothes to be washed." he waves it off like it's no big deal.

"So..what's up with you and that kid?" he motions to Evan who is staring..again.

I gag and say "Evan? Bleh. No, he's gross..and annoying..and just, creepy.." I trail off.

Jackson looks sort of relived but quickly covers it up with a smile.

"So-" I get cut off by a overly peppy blonde.

"Hey! Drea! Will was right when he said that this place is far from the dorm! I need help..I want to redecorate our room, but I can't decide between fuchsia or lime green paint for the walls- OOO! How about both! That'll look amazing!"

I look at her in horror. Fuchsia? What the hell is fuchsia? Is it a type of yellow?

Jackson leans in and whispers, "What's fuchsia?" Great minds think alike..

I shrug and turn back to Elle, "No painting!" Jackson gives me a pointed look.

"Please." I add quickly.

She slumps a little and smiles, "Okay, I understand. What if I paint it blue? Isn't that your favorite color?" Defeat.

I sigh and nod. She squeaks and runs off happily.

I notice creeper Evan was staring at her intently throughout our conversation. He just now slipped out though the door after her. Poor girl. Ha, her problem now.

"She's your new roommate? Don't you already have one?" I shrug and shake my head.

"Yeah, the school system loves to torture me." he nods.

"How long have you gone here?" he asks.

"All four years unfortunately." he smiles and shakes his head.

"I love it here at Interlochen. I'm just really into the arts and such. It's the perfect school. And I'm so happy to have attended all four years here also."

Smart..funny..artsy..Ugh, I think I've found my new obsession.

"So are you from here?" I ask

"No, I came here from Texas. But I do love Michigan. What about you?" That explains the drawl.

"Nope. I'm from Connecticut." he smiles thoughtfully and says, "North and South. So opposites do attract."

Did he just say that? Or are the voices lying to me?

"Haha, yeah.. Where you born in Texas?" I ask.

"Nope, Singapore. Family travels a lot because of my dad's job. I actually also lived in Connecticut for a time. Very nice, it's beautiful. Especially in fall." I nod in agreement.

"Yes, it is. And Singapore? That's crazy, but awesome." he laughs. Aw, so cute.

"Yeah, so um..want to get coffee or something?" AHH! Mental happy dance!

"Yup, sure, that would be great. Let me just finish up here.. The shop on campus correct?" he nods and smiles.

"Okay, I'll meet you there." I say with a smile.

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Hope you liked it :) Please review!


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